Eventually, Virgie found herself on stage at Nostalgia and now she tries to go every week, even if she has to go alone.

“It’s my sanctuary. No matter what’s going on at home or at work I can feel inner peace for a minute when I’m there,” she says. “ I take care of so many people at home and at work, the poetry takes care of me.”

Recently, Virgie performed at the Marcus Employee Show during Gallery Night and the next week, I went to see Virgie perform at Nostalgia. Both times I was blown away by her honesty, her storytelling skills and the sound of her smooth, confident voice.

Virgie performs at Nostalgia.

Virgie grew up on Chicago’s South Side. She moved to Milwaukee years ago because she thought it would be a positive place to raise her five children.

“I thought Milwaukee was a slower pace than Chicago,” she says.

Living in Milwaukee definitely worked in her family’s favor. Her oldest daughter is a college graduate living and working in Memphis and her oldest granddaughter says she wants to be like “Grandma Virgie” when she grows up.

Family is very important to Virgie. But so is work.

“I have a passion to make people smile, to make people feel welcome. It’s in my nature. I don’t know what else I would do if I wasn’t greeting people,” says Virgie.

Virgie says she deeply connected with former Artist-in-Residence Timothy Westbrook – her daughter was one of his models earlier this year – as well as current AiR, Stephanie Barenz, whom she shares her poems with while on a break.

“I think I connect with people who are different because I am different,” she says.

Virgie loves her job at the Pfister so much that even though she gets four weeks of vacation every year she still has three weeks and three days left and fewer than two months to use it up.

“Even in the mall, I’m holding elevator doors for people and saying ‘hi’ to people when I’m walking down the street. Some people think I’m crazy. But that’s just my nature. And that’s why I fell in love with this company. If you treat them good, they treat you good,” says Virgie.

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Dominic Inouye – The Current Narrator

A writer, speaker and teacher, Dominic Inouye has written for various websites, blogs and publications, founded academic programs, shared his experiences at academic conferences and teaches students how to read and tell stories through history, art, spoken-word and film. He cofounded the Milwaukee Spotlight Student Film Festival and has over twenty years of experience as a teacher. He has taught at Marquette University, Pius XI High School and currently teaches English at The Prairie School in Windpoint, Wis.

Inouye was chosen to serve as the hotel’s ninth Pfister Narrator based on his writing style, his vision for the role and personality.